Various safety regulations require that domestic electrical apparatus and in particular apparatus of the portable kind be capable of being isolated from the mains supply automatically in the event of a fault. This is for example particularly true of items such as domestic hair driers which are liable to be used in a damp or wet environment. As a minimum, it is important that a switch device be provided to isolate the mains supply in the event that water enters the hair drier itself since this could cause a dangerous short to the exposed electrical components like the electric motor and the electric heating coils.
The invention has therefore been made with this in mind and it is an objective of the invention to provide a switching arrangement which automatically isolates the piece of apparatus like the hair drier in the event of a dangerous condition arising.